This has been an interesting offseason, to say the least, in which us Rocket fans have been left pondering what in the world the team is doing. After the signings of Ward and Sura I feel even more confused. 1) THE QUIET BEFORE THE STORM? When the McGrady trade finally, well, finalized, the team was left with a HUGE gaping hole at point guard. Speculation was that the team would make a run at and land either Brent Barry or Derek Fisher with each deciding to play elsewhere for the money and/or the chance to win. What was left were servicable guards who could come in for little money. Damon Jones and Mike James both expressed desire to play in Houston, but both signed for cheap on other teams. Until Monday, we really never heard anything about the team's next PG and the eery silence made one wonder when and if the Rockets were going to actually fill the missing link. 2) A MOUNTAIN OF NEWS. All of a sudden the Rockets were in public trade talks. The Bulls acquired a VERY servicable center in trade and were putting him on the block. Speculation was that the Bulls need a SG and the Rockets need a center, so the teams would be an ideal match to make such a deal happen. News broke that Houston had offered a package of backup guards for Mount. Mutombo in which case speculation grew amongst fans. What is so interesting is for a team that is so tight-lipped about player transactions would leak information giving details about a possible trade. 3) ABUNDANCE OF GUARDS. Before Monday, the Rockets' roster, even without a TRUE starting point, looked semi-deep at the guard spots. With two point guards (Lue, Gaines) and three shooting guards (McGrady, Piakowski, Griffin) the team had plenty of roster spots filled in the backcourt. Sura and Ward only add to the confusion. It is hard to imagine that the organization feels that either player is the answer as the lead point guard on the team. Sura said himself on SportsRadio 610 that no one in the organization has told him he is the starting point but only that he is going into the season thinking that is the case. Sura is a shooting guard who can certainly play the point and Ward is a shell of his former self. If both guys were brought in as point guard options, what happened to Lue and Gaines? For a guy that is a pretty good option as a backup and was touted by Carrol Dawson as a possible starter for this season, Lue now looks to be, at most, the third option at his position and Gaines turns into just another roster spot. These factors makes one wonder what, if anything, is going on in Rocket-land. Adding two servicable guards to a roster already having such players and the abundance of information leaked of a possible Bulls trade makes one ponder... Did the Rockets sign two more guards thinking that one or more of the ones they have will be gone? Did they leak details of a Mutombo trade to push another team to make a decision on a trade on the table involving such guards? If there is something else out there going on behind closed doors, it is hard to imagine what team or what player or players the Rockets are pursuing. But, with question marks still surrounding a few aspects of the roster, it will be interesting to watch what happens between now and game 1.
Things really dont add up, but as a rockets fan all u can do is belive CD is making the right roster moves. Which i think he is.
fair questions, particularly given the length of the contracts of sura and ward. I think these signings are the Rockets' way of hedging on the PG position and defering true resolution until later. I do not expect further, significant moves, other than mutumbo. The big thing is that management does not know how this team will play together. Will the offense be fluid regardless of the pg because of the passing ability of tmac, yao, howard and jj? if so, pg not important and just need shooter and defender. if not, then we may need a creator/penetrator, someone that can actively participate in the offense. Ward and Sura are low risk, low reward signings. if it turns out that we need to commit more to the pg position, lue will be let go, ward will be relegated to the veteran backup postion, and we will go get someone when some of our contracts come off the books. edit - also, keep in mind the recent history of upper management decisions. they signed cato and taylor in fairly kneejerk style. they didn't wait to see how these guys would fit in with the then core of the team. those risks were taken a bit more blindly.
Yeah, I don't think any leak came out of Houston. It's widely known Mutombo has no interest in playing for the re-tooling Bulls though.
Seriously though, I was pretty surprised during the 610 interview with Sura that Rich Lord was so adamant about Sura being the starting point. "No question in my mind you're the starting point." Rich was so strong about it, that it made it almost impossible for Sura to politely disagree. And I felt Sura was very non-committal in his answers, saying things like "whoever" has the job will have it easy just throwing it in to Yao and Tracy and getting out of the way. I don't see how you automatically turn the club over to Sura who really has very little point time logged. A huge complaint about Francis was that he wasn't a natural point, and now we're solving the problem by bring in Sura? I think the guard rotation won't be determined until after the preseason when they've had a chance to look at everyone with the other starters and second unit.
I'm with you. I see Sura as a real good backup to McGrady, or a guy who can come in and play the 2 or 3 in the same lineup with Tmac. That being said, I find it VERY hard to believe that they feel Ward is the answer at point guard. He couldn't get off the bench in San Antonio. Don't get me wrong though, I really do like the signings.
I think a couple factors are that- Barry was our first choice, chose SA Fisher was too high priced M James- Probably considered but JVG saw him alot like Lue D Jones- Could be that JVG felt he was defensively the weakest T Hudson- another scorer that doesn't think like JVG Sura- JVG likes his hustle/effort- must think we can defend??? Ward- JVG- a former knick who could replace MJackson??? Over all I see this as JVG moves: I believe JVG wanted: 1st option Barry 2nd option Fisher/ Ward 3rd option Ward/ someone else someone else became Sura as the list dwindled. I believe the position will be won or lost in training camp/pre-season and could possibly be PG by committee. The weird part of it all is that CD claims that his phone was ringing off the hook after the TMac deal. We must have missed something for it to work out the way it did. No doubt couldn't come to terms with Fisher at a reasonable rate. Should have jumped on Barry after the trade and overpaid him. What's the difference between overpaying him or MoT and Moochie and Cato? At least you are getting a more proven player and the one you probably really wanted. Maybe Barry had SA in his sights all along and we had no shot?
I'd agree with that assessment (though I think Sura has a higher upside with this team than you may be giving him credit for). Suppose the Rockets had signed Ward to a 1 year deal, and didn't sign Sura at all. Then, going into next offseason, we have no PGs under contract. The contract situation would be this: Early Bird Rights on Lue, no rights on Ward. We would have no relative negotiation advantage with Lue (higher raises) other than he played with the team this past year. If we wanted to sign Ward, we'd again have to dip into one of our exceptions. This way, at a minimum, we have our PG depth in tow. We can let Lue go if he gets a full MLE offer (if DFisher got one...) or anywhere near that. There's even a chance a light went on in Sura's head in Atlanta, and he's a fully capable starting PG with Ward a solid backup, and perhaps the 2nd rounder (Spanoulis) or Gaines blossoms. Either way, we have the backup guard situation for the next couple years under control at a minimum, and at a fairly low cost. Basically we traded a little bit of long term cap flexibility for a lot of roster flexibility. Ward and Sura's contracts are small enough that they are moveable. Apparently there's still a market for Pike despite 2 years left, coming off a bad, injury filled season, and at his age. The Rockets lacked quality at the guard slot outside TMac. Gaines barely played on a bad Magic team, Pike had injury struggles, and Lue is a marginable starter, better suited off the bench. Neither Ward nor Sura may be bona fide starting material, but both should be in the rotation. When you can add 2 guys who can play in your 8-9 man rotation without much doubt for around 4.5 mill combined, you didn't have depth before hand. Lastly, I don't consider a cursory mention on the 9pm sports news, and a few lines in chicago sports pages (which led to the other reports) to be a mountain of news.
I'm fine with your assesment and I am all for hoping that either Gaines and/or Spanoulis become our PGs for years to come, but you even said it. We sured up our BACKUP point for a few years. I like the Sura signing alot and feel he will be a key to the team's success this year and beyond, but as a bench guy. Same with Ward except he has alot less in the tank. We already had a capable BACKUP pg in Lue and they brought in two more. But, you are right, these guys can be moved rather easily at any time. Yea, you are right. That was not an abundance of news. I was trying to do a play on words because of Mutombo's nickname. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Here's my reasoning for why he Rockets have made the moves they have: My feeling is that Lue has already been penciled in as the starting point guard for next season. The Rockets figured that he's as good as any of the point guards that supposedly were interested in the Rockets (James, Jones, Fisher). He brings everything those guys do (shooting and stability). The only weakness with Lue is his size might make him a liability on defense some nights. That’s where Sura steps in. Sura’s got great size at 6’5 and is a very good defender. His main weakness is he can get out of control at times. That’s why they sign Ward. For nights when Lue is too small and Sura is too out of control.
you are right on Barry, Fisher and James - but Hudson was going to re-sign with the T-wolves and Jones signed with a team that has just as much to offer as the Rockets (the Heat) remember, this is not roto basketball - just because we WANT someone at a certain price means they WANT to play here - if Jones got the same offers from Miami and Houstion... he MAY have just rather play in Miami
Excellent call! I think the UM started seeing the ridiculous signings that were taking place and didn't want to strap themselves to a long term contract with a mediocre player. I definitely wouldn't rule out a midseason trade (ala Clyde) where the team has been given half a season to play together and weaknesses are identified. We do have overadundance in areas and that might play into our favor later on during the season. I do like the future money situation. Where a lot of the teams signing these average players to big dollar salaries are going to be taking hits for the next several years in regards to the salary cap, the Rockets will be clearing space and make room for legit big name players. Assuming that McGrady works out and actually signs with the Rockets, they are setting themselves up for a bright future.
